Abstract

In 2008, the agreement between Mainland China and Taiwan of building Interactive Relationship of the Economic Trade was implemented, which created positively economic effect on both sides as well as improved the cross-relations.

In order to seize the great opportunity of reopening Taiwan market to Mainland China, the Hunan province tourism bureau had established some policies of promoting Hunan province to Taiwanese consumers. Meanwhile, it also could be an opportunity to further develop inbound tourism in Hunan province.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the information about power of destination branding and images, their travel preferences, internet use patterns and attitudes towards travelling in Mainland China and Hunan province, including the appropriate e-marketing strategies employed to promote travelling Hunan province to Taiwan market.

The e-survey of this research was conducted by the end of August, 2010 though the famous online questionnaire engine called my3q.com in Taiwan. Meanwhile, the link of the e-questionnaire was distributed to the major Taiwanese online society forums based in Taiwan, UK and Canada. In total, 107 respondents had involved in this research, and finally 96 answers were valid.

It appeared that respondents aged from 24 to 35 years old seem to be more valuable and could be considered as target market, as it mainly have higher budget as well as the higher anticipate. Meanwhile, destinations of natural scenery, heritages and heritages were found to be more attractive to Taiwanese consumer. Furthermore, the result also suggested the increasing power of internet in tourism market and emerging of travel blogs and forums.